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Utah County Council of Governments

February 23, 2023

Dear Legislators and Mr. Niederhauser:

We are writing as the Utah County Council of Governments (COG) to respectfully request one
change to HB499: removal of the provision mandating that we plan for, and then operate, the
means to shelter individuals under certain circumstances. We know you can enact that later, so
this can be considered a pause. But we would greatly appreciate a time period to learn more
about the existing shelter system and expansion plans, the core philosophies underlying them,
and the long-term vision of where this overall shelter approach will put Utah, and Utah County,
decades from now. We also wonder whether sitting down with Mr. Niederhauser—without a
mandate in place—we might come up with even better solutions than otherwise would be the
case. As you know, our county is not lacking in people who care or in entities that provide
meaningful services and shelter to those in need.

Note that we are not requesting a change to the bill’s proposed increase in funds that each city
and county will provide for homeless mitigation efforts, although we would appreciate your
finding more ways to use state funds for that purpose, in the future (and trust us we need every
penny we can get now to serve our residents; it’s painful to see our revenue go down in this
manner).

We also are not requesting a change to the requirement that we set up the committee
proposed under this bill. Maybe the committee’s charge could be changed to this: engage with
the homelessness coordinator and council, learn more about the existing shelter system and
various operations related to homelessness, including those in Utah County, and then report
back to this COG, legislative leadership, and the bill’s sponsors on any conclusions and plans.

Thank you for your efforts to make Utah a better place and for considering this request. We
commend the sponsors of HB 499, Representative Eliason and Senator Anderegg, and Mr.
Niederhauser, for their thoughtful approach and for the expressions we have heard of their
desire to work with us and use mandates only as a last resort.

Respectfully,

Chairman Staheli
and Members of The Utah County Council of Governments